Unlike contemporary consumer and business appliances, the personal computer is not always available to process tasks. Boot performance enhancements to speed the time from turning on or resuming the power until the user can begin working have helped to close the gap. However, when not used between tasks, the computer is often shut down and takes a comparably longer time to boot to a ready state than a consumer appliance. Additionally, when the computer has been powered up from a shutdown, the user context is lost. Upon power up, the user can re-establish the user context by launching the applications last used and reopen documents.
Improvements in power management now allow users to store their context by putting the computer into a state of hibernation when turning it off. However, the concepts of power management have grown considerably from a single mechanical isolation switch to a complex system of global, system, processor, performance, and device states that challenges understanding for even the most tech-savvy user. In contrast, the introduction of consumer electronics appliances like personal digital assistants, mobile phones, and set-top boxes do not require users to be educated in power management to operate these appliances which are instantly available.
Further, while the advances in power management have also appreciably extended battery life for mobile computers, there has been little improvement in making computers as instantly available for use as most consumer electronics. What is desirable is a method and system for powering up a computer system almost instantly and making the computer system available for users to access the information they need, where and when they need it.